Educational Science

Star-size black hole is emitting radio signals that scientists can't explain

Astronomers have spotted mysterious changes in a jet of highly magnetic plasma blasted out by a small black hole that is gorging on gas and dust. The feature takes the form of periodic changes in the jet occurring within a fraction of a second that have been detected by the Five-hundred-meter...

James Webb telescope discovers the oldest active black hole in the known universe

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have detected the most distant, actively-feeding supermassive black hole ever observed. The black hole also happens to be one of the least massive seen in the early universe — measuring the equivalent of about 9 million suns — which is proving challenging...

For the first time ever, scientists have measured the exact size of the disk of matter swirling around a supermassive black hole. The serendipitous finding could help expand our knowledge of how these cosmic juggernauts grow and how the galaxies that surround them evolve over time. Accretion disks are massive...

James Webb telescope reveals the universe may have far fewer active black holes than we thought

Every galaxy, including our own Milky Way, has a monster lurking in its heart — a supermassive black hole. Despite how common these gargantuan objects are, astronomers are still trying to figure out how the universe's supermassive black holes were born, and how they grew to their humongous sizes. Now,...

Black hole 'seeds' discovered in the early universe for 1st time ever

Astronomers may have discovered the first evidence of heavy black hole seeds in the early universe. These so-called seeds could help explain how some supermassive black holes with masses equivalent to millions, or even billions, times that of the sun could have grown quickly enough to exist less than 1...

'Twisty' new theory of gravity says information can escape black holes after all

In astrophysics, there's a saying that black holes have no hair. This means that, in the theory of general relativity, black holes are exceptionally simplistic objects. All you need to describe a black hole is its mass, its electric charge and its spin rate. With those three numbers alone, you...

Scientists just proved that 'monster' black hole M87 is spinning — confirming Einstein’s relativity yet again

Astronomers have found the first direct evidence of a black hole spinning, and it's confirmed Einstein's theory of relativity yet again. The discovery was made by studying powerful jets of energy beamed from the solar system-size black hole at the center of the neighboring Messier 87 galaxy. The black hole,...

An ancient, ravenous black hole has been hiding an 11-billion-year-old galaxy in its glare

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has used a tricky technique to discover an elusive 11-billion-year-old galaxy. Rather than observe the light this realm emits, they watched for the light it absorbs. Just as we see a light bulb via the light it emits, astronomers usually observe...

The closest black holes to Earth may be lurking in a star cluster visible to the naked eye

The closest black holes to Earth may have just gotten trillions of miles closer. In new research published in the September issue of the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a team of astronomers delved into the cosmic history of a nearby family of stars called the Hyades...

Could a black hole devour the universe?

Black holes are infamous for their immense gravity — they can swallow stars, planets and even other black holes. But could a black hole consume the entire universe, piece by piece? In short, no. There's no way that a black hole could eat the universe, or even an entire galaxy,...